1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to aircraft displays and more particularly to improving the capability of presently existing cockpit displays used to display information generated by a traffic alert and collision avoidance system (identified as TCAS) having a TCAS COMPUTER and a MODE S TRANSPONDER.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Many present day aircraft utilize TCAS to display own aircraft and the relative positions and altitudes of other aircraft in the area on a cockpit display for use by the pilot. The TCAS COMPUTER receives information concerning own aircraft from a TRANSPONDER identified as a MODE S TRANSPONDER and receives information concerning other aircraft from their transponders. One description of such a system can be found in copending application of Stayton et al, Ser. No, 08/504977, filed Jul. 20, 1995 and assigned to the assignee of the present invention.
In addition to display of aircraft positions, the TCAS system can display data generated and contained in the TCAS COMPUTER such as system test information. A control panel connected to the MODE S TRANSPONDER provides switch commands which enable transfer of information from the TRANSPONDER to the TCAS COMPUTER which operates on the information to produce a display. Additional subsystems, such as an air data computer (ADC) or a flight management system (FMS) may also be connected to the MODE S TRANSPONDER or the TCAS COMPUTER. The MODE S TRANSPONDER or the additional subsystems produce information that may be used by the TCAS COMPUTER for generating information used in producing a display.
The MODE S TRANSPONDER stores information concerning failures and other internal information which may be used by maintenance personnel. In the past, maintenance personnel were required to remove the TRANSPONDER from the aircraft and send it to a maintenance facility to check and correct any problems. In addition, new programs are occasionally introduced for use by the MODE S TRANSPONDER and in order to employ these, the TRANSPONDER is removed from the aircraft so that the programs may be added to the TRANSPONDER and verified at a remote location before reinstalling.
Because it is time consuming and expensive to remove and operate on the TRANSPONDER at a remote location, a maintenance computer has been developed to be used on the aircraft for purposes of checking all of the aircraft systems including TCAS. For example, the maintenance computer can check MODE S TRANSPONDER failure data or can perform software verification. The problem with this solution is that the cost involved with installing a maintenance computer on the aircraft is high and the space taken up by the computer is undesirable.